Ah, the late 1950s. GM designers were on the verge of revolting against Harley Earl, the 1959 designs looked to continue the 1958 designs’ emphasis on chrome and blockiness, and in the midst of it all, GM’s designers were suddenly given nearly unlimited free reign to design the future. Michael Lamm explored that crazy time in his article for SIA #125, September 1991.

A great read and it helps me to understand the where and the why of the 58 and 59 designs. I always wondered what happened to GM design when it came to the worst ever year, 1958, followed by the second worst year, 1959. I guess the good news is that the actual car designs that showed up in the showrooms could have been even more ugly! 1960 was okay, 1961 and on was sort of like the tri-five years, 61, 62, 63 Chevy comes to mind.